


What To Do When Your Friend Grows Wings

by iDragonSpyro



Category: Smosh
Genre: An OC occasionally says what the author is thinking for Convenience., F/F, Friends Teasing Friends About Crushes, Oh My God, Shapeshifting, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, What Have I Done, how did this happen, i just wanted this as an intro to a larger project, the gay is here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-08
Updated: 2018-07-08
Packaged: 2019-06-07 05:20:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,886
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15212081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iDragonSpyro/pseuds/iDragonSpyro
Summary: Boze has friends outside the crew that are more like her than you think- in the "being some of the most casually powerful beings in the multiverse" kind of way, of course.ORMari didn't actually have a date, and it all kinda spirals from there.





	What To Do When Your Friend Grows Wings

**Author's Note:**

> This wasn't supposed to be this long.  
> I lied I cut stuff out. I'm tired, send caffeine.
> 
> This was legit supposed to be like a preview though, I didn't think it would be this long.

“Listen, all I’m saying is that if Peter Parker or any of the Guardians die, I’m gonna cut someone,” Wes said, energetically waving his arms around. Damien nodded in agreement. 

“Definitely. I’m probably going to cry if Loki or Thor dies, too,” Shayne added. “But can they really die or not? Cause Odin did, but that’s something specific to the Norse gods, but this is Marvel, so who the hell knows, right?”

“They can’t actually die,” Boze interjected, “because they’d just go to the afterlife, and they could leave Valhalla for short periods of time to help in the battle, so it wouldn’t matter. Also, I’m adding Steve and Tony to the list.”

“OF COURSE!” Lasercorn yelled. “HOW COULD WE FORGET THE MOST STRAIGHT GAY COUPLE IN THE WORLD?”

“And who fed Lasercorn candy?” Mari snarked.

“YOU KNOW WHAT MARI-”

“SO MARI HOW WAS YOUR DATE THE OTHER DAY?” Damien screamed, attempting to steer the conversation in a direction that wasn’t (currently) going to cause everyone’s ears to bleed.

Mari sighed and flopped onto the couch in the “break room.” “It was fine, I guess. Nothing special. The guy was cute, and very smooth I must say, tucked my hair behind my ear and everything, but kinda dumb. I think his name was Ember, or something?”

Boze, who had been drinking some water, suddenly choked and started coughing. Shayne started to pat her back but she waved him off. 

“I mean, he wasn’t dumb, but he wasn’t exactly the smartest guy in the world, either.”

Wes muttered something under his breath. 

“And besides, I think I might like someone else, anyways.”

Everyone else immediately started shouting, asking questions and threatening to rip the person’s face off and generally behaving like chickens with their heads cut off. 

“What does he look like?”  
“What’s his favorite band?”  
“Favorite animal?”  
“What’s his favorite bug?”  
“Male or female? Are they hot?”  
“What’s their name I wanna stalk the shit outta them!”  
“Lasercorn what have we said about the death threats?”  
“All I wanna do is kill ‘im if he hurts Mari is that so bad?”  
“Yes!”

Boze settled into a chair to the side of the group, watching her friends scream with a little smile on her face. Sometimes, if she let herself stop worrying and let go of   
her concerns about someone finding out about her (and, she guessed, Wes by extension), she really could just forget everything and be what she would consider a normal human being for once.

Something (someone) tickled the back of her brain. 

She usually couldn’t forget for long, though. Goddamnit, what’d they do this time…

Wes shot her a worried look over their friends’ heads, who were still debating the merits of using good-old fear tactics on a friend’s significant other. Boze shook her head slightly, signalling that she would deal with it.

Shayne sent her a different look, this one to gauge her reaction to the current conversation. Boze ignored it, too focused on her mind, specifically what the Embers had to tell her. 

Across the room, Mari finally got a break from the questions and arguments. “Guys!” she shouted. “I can’t tell you that much yet, I don’t even know for sure how I feel about it! All I’ll tell you for now is that I’ve been friends with this person for a few years, and you all know and like them, so Lasercorn there is no need to break out your flamethrower.”

“Aw, man!”

“And… I think I really like them, you know? They’re amazing, and I want to know them better and do all that cheesy couple stuff and laugh about it.”

“C’mon, Mari, don’t start going soft on us now!”

Mari sighed and rolled her eyes, searching for a way out of the conversation. Her eyes landed on Boze, who was quietly sitting in a chair, looking a bit spaced out. “Hey, Boze?” Mari called softly.

Boze startled a bit and shifted her gaze to rest on Mari. “Yeah, what’s up?”

Mari shrugged. “Nothing, you just seemed a bit spacey. You alright?”

“Yeah. I’m fine,” Boze muttered, shifting her eyes away.

“Really? You still seem a bit out of it,” Mari frowned.

Even years later, Shayne would still claim that he had no idea why he did it, and it would be the truth. He didn’t know why, but he could so clearly see what the problem was, and no one else seeing it just made him snap.

“Of course she’s not fine, Mari! You’ve been going on about this mystery person, and she’s had a crush on you for years!” Shayne’s eyes widened and he clamped his mouth shut once he realized what he said, but it was too late.

Everyone had gone completely silent. Wes fidgetted. Mari, having whipped around to stare incredulously at Shayne as he spoke, missed Boze’s immediate reaction to Shayne’s words. All she saw was that when she turned back to Boze, she was standing completely still in front of the chair, her face as pale as it could be, eyes staring sightlessly in front of her.

“Boze…?” Mari asked tentatively.

No one (except perhaps Wes, if he had been thinking about it; super secret and all, and maybe John and Clarice and the Talons themselves, Time-Lords and all… I guess the list is quite extensive, really) could have predicted what Boze said next.

“Coordinates?” she muttered, her eyes still far away. Mari and the others exchanged confused glances.

“Trajectory calculation?” Boze asked of no one. She paused a moment, as if listening to something. “Estimated time of arrival?”

Boze turned to face Wes, who had a rather concerned look on his face. She frowned. “Ten minutes? Yeah, I can work with that.”

The faraway look in Boze’s eyes disappeared. She stared at Wes.

“Frost, we have a Code Basilisk.”

It was Wes’s turn to go pale. “Fuck.”

“Yeah.”

“Ohh, fuck!”

“Yes. So, I’m gonna go get our stuff, and then you and I are going to meet up with the others and find it, right after we evacuate. Got it?” Boze spoke slowly, heading out of the room and towards a small supply closet down the hall. Her phone, left on the couch, started to ring.

“Wes, answer that.”

“It’s Em.”

“Put her on speaker,” Boze said, walking back into the room with several disk- and stick-shaped devices in her hands. She dumped them on a small coffee table in the middle of the room and started sorting them into separate piles.

The call connected.

“Hey, you’re on speaker-”

“YOU HAVE THREE MINUTES!” a girl’s voice screamed over the phone.

“What?!” Wes and Boze shouted simultaneously.

“Three minutes! He found a wormhole that hasn’t been closed yet and got a fix on your location! ‘Dusk, Zef’ and I are in flight right now, Scruffy and Mist are coming from the opposite direction. Evacuation is no longer an option, keep everyone inside and away from glass, and be on the roof in-” the voice pause, and the sound of loud wind came through the speakers, “two and a half minutes. Be there!”

The call disconnected.

Boze set her jaw, her eyes blazing with a determination that none of the crew had seen before. “Change of plans. I’m going up. Wes, you are staying down here.”

“What?” Wes protested. “Absolutely not! I’m not staying here while you’re up there fighting a damn Rogue Warper!’

(“Thought it was a basilisk,” Shayne whispered to Damien. He shook his head.)

“You absolutely are, Frost,” Boze snarled. “If things go wrong, I need you to get them,” she gestured towards the still slightly huddled group, “out of here. No one else here can.”

Wes stared at her for a long moment, fists clenched and eyes hard. He finally softened his posture. “Fine. But as soon as they’re out I’m coming back for you, even if it’s still there.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Boze nodded at him and turned towards the others. “I’m going to the roof. Wes is in charge. He tells you to run to the basement, you do it. He tells you to hide in a cabinet, you do so, is that understood?”

Damien spoke up. “Boze, you don’t exactly have the authority to give those orders-”

“This is not a joke, Damien,” Boze interrupted. “I had really hoped none of this would ever happen, but it has, and it is dangerous. So, for the time being, Wes is in charge.”

She didn’t wait for a response before grabbing some of the devices and ducking out of the room.

Everyone stood still for a moment. Mari was the first to move, walking towards the door Boze had just walked out of. Wes grabbed her arm. “Where to you think you’re going”

Mari looked at him, steely-eyed. “I’m going after her to get an explanation.”

“Oh, no you’re not,” Wes growled, pulling her in the opposite direction. “We’re going to the very shatter-resistant sunroom.”

 

 

Boze stared out into the night from the top of the Smosh building. She continuously scanned the darkness for any movement. She tensed for a moment as a voice sounded in her ear.

“Hey, Boze.”

“Hi, Emberdusk. Why do you always do that?”

The dusky-haired boy stepped around her and grinned. “Because it’s fun.”

“It’s even more fun when you get them twice,” a voice said in her other ear.

Boze jumped before sighing in resignation. “Damnit, Zefyre, every time.”

“Ah well, you know us,” the girl said, ducking out of the way as another girl with red hair flew past where she had just been standing. The girl landed on the roof with a thump.

“Thought I had you this time,” she grumbled as she stood up. Boze nodded to her.

“Emberdawn. And no, they’re impossible to catch, we should’ve realized that a while ago. Anyways, where are Mist and Scruffy?”

“Behind you,” a cheerful male voice said.

“Can you stop sneaking up on me please?” Boze asked, quite fairly if you asked her.

“No,” a female voice replied. “It’s too much fun.”

Boze groaned. “Where is this thing, anyways?”

Mist pointed out to a slightly glowing shape moving rapidly towards them. “There.”

“I see,” Boze squinted. “It’s a pretty clear night. It’d be a shame if it rained…”

Emberdusk and Zefyre grinned at her. “Do it. Definitely do it,” they said in unison.

Boze raised her hands towards the sky, wiggling her fingers and pushing her power through them. Dark clouds appeared from nowhere, and fat drops of rain started falling around her.

“Great,” Emberdawn said. She pointed to the edge of the roof. “Looks like our friend is here.”

At the end of the roof, a slightly glowing purple humanoid figure was sizzling in the rain.

Wind picked up. Lightning crackled in the clouds. Boze looked over to Zefyre. “And what song shall we be using this evening?”

The girl smirked, twin swords appearing in her hands. “Welcome to the Jungle. In honor of your friends in the sunroom over there.”

Boze sighed again, flipping one of the devices she had grabbed until it became a longsword. “I told Wes to keep them inside.”

Everyone shrugged. “They would’ve had questions anyways.”

“I guess. So, are we gonna kick this dude’s ass or what?”

The music started, and they charged the beast. 

 

 

Everyone followed Wes as he pounded up the stairwell. They emerged into a room completely built out of glass. They stared through the walls at Boze as she talked with five people none of them had ever seen before. They stared harder when a purple thing sat on the edge of the roof, and they stared even harder when suddenly they were all holding weapons, Welcome to the Jungle started playing through unseen speakers, and everyone charged the purple thing, which decided to charge back.

The people on the roof, Mari thought, were very strange. They appeared on a rooftop unseen and with no explanation for being there, charged a weird alien-looking thing with swords like it was a totally normal thing for them to be doing, and appeared to be fighting in time with a fucking Bon Jovi song. And Boze seemed to have called a thunderstorm out of actual nothingness. 

Huh.

Everyone except for Wes stared in awe as the six figured stabbed, dodged, swung from cables that appeared out of nowhere, and generally just kicked the alien’s ass in time to the music.

Wes appeared to be a bit too concerned for their safety to enjoy the fighter’s skills. Mari watched as he paced and chewed his nails to distract himself.

They thought things couldn’t possibly get weirder.

And then a girl was thrown through the window.

Wes was at her side immediately, helping her stand up. She waved him off before jumping to one of the windows that could be opened for ventilation. She opened it just as Boze was sent flying towards it.

She hurtled through the gap, and fucking sprouted wings.

They opened just in time to catch her before she slammed into the opposite wall. She hovered for a second. 

“Nice save, Emberdawn!”

“Thanks, I try!” the mystery girl responded, still hanging on to the window.

Boze flew back out, and the girl followed her as a black panther.

Mari blinked. What the actual shit.

 

 

Boze swung around a giant glowing leg, flinging herself into the sky to attack from above. She reached the peak of her jump, and hung in the air for a moment before diving headfirst into the Warper’s neck. It howled and flung her off, grunting angrily.

The fight was winding down, the Warper growing tired. Below, Zefyre and Emberdusk led its long limbs in circles until they knotted together and making the beast fall, knocking itself unconscious. Boze flew down to land, shaking her wings tiredly before retracting them.

Emberdusk was finishing up with its specialized cuffs, and sent it through his transporter once they were secure. “That was tiring,” he groaned. “And I’m definitely bruising. That’s gonna hurt tomorrow.”

Boze snorted and walked away.

 

 

They were all back in the break room, sitting on couches and chairs and attempting to process what they had just seen. Wes, unable to participate due to already knowing what was going on, stared at a wall. 

Everyone snapped back to reality when running footsteps sounded in the hallway. The red-haired girl from the roof (PANTHER! Mari’s head screamed helpfully) ran into the room, panting heavily. She turned back to the hallway she had run through.

“BITCH!” she screeched happily, sporting a smug grin that turned into a look of fear when a brown blur of anger tackled her together. They tumbled to the floor, wrestling around until one appeared on top. They stopped struggling, and the brown blur revealed itself to be Boze, now pinned to the floor by the other girl, who had stretched her body out to block any movement.

“You’re skills are leaving you, Boze,” she smirked.

Boze lifted an eyebrow. “You sure about that, Ember?”

Fast as lightning, she hooked a leg between and over the other girl’s and pulled sharply to the side. She fell, and Boze had reversed their positions in seconds.

The red-haired girl tensed for a moment before sighing in resignation. “Unfortunately, our little wrestling match has wrapped our senses in each other and left us susceptible to attack from the true masters.”

Boze’s eyes widened for the umpteenth time that evening. “Shit-”

She was promptly bowled over by another blur, this one revealing itself to be a boy with the same hair color as the other girl, who was now being pinned by a girl with silver-streaked dark hair. Boze scowled.

“You guys are the worst little shits, you know that?”

The boy smirked. “I do. I also know that in about five seconds, Mist and Scruffy will come through that doorway and attempt to tackle us, and also that they should just give up now.”

Said people came through the door, froning heavily. “Damn it,” the girl muttered.

The boy tsked at her. “Now, is that any way to talk to your former apprentice?” He stood, helping Boze to her feet before turning to the group staring speechless at the craziness that had appeared in their already crazy workplace.

Mari gasped, recognizing the boy. “Ember?”

“Hiya there, Mari!” he said, bouncing on the balls of his feet. He turned to the girl still laying on the floor, though she was no longer pinned. “Which reminds me, PAY UP, SIS!”

She scowled up at him from her spot on the floor. (These people like to scowl, Noah noticed.) “Just once, could one of your devices not work?”

“Nope!” Ember replied happily. He strode over to Mari, smiling brightly. “Now, if I could just- ah, here it is!”

He reached for Mari’s neck, just behind her right ear. After a moment, he pulled back, holding a small square with a blue light glowing in its center. He tucked it into his pocket and winked at her. “Just a little heat tracker. We had a bet going to see how long it would work and if you would notice before it stopped. Zia over there-” the girl with silver hair streaks waved to her “-and I won some good Israeli chocolate, so thanks!”

Mari was nearly speechless. “You… You’re welcome?” Words returned. “And also, what the fuck?”

The girl apparently named Zia started talking. “You see Mari, that wasn’t actually a date the other day. It was really a way for us to test out our new tracker design, and also for us to see how you responded to certain situations for… personal reasons,” she drew in a deep breath, and seemed to be about to go on when she stopped and stared at Mari for a few seconds. “Wow.”

“What?” Mari asked, uncomfortable. 

“Nothing, it’s just- Emberdusk, you smell that, right?”

The boy sniffed, and his eyes snapped open. “Wow, that’s-that’s really strong, holy crap. Boze, Wes, is it like this every day?”

They both nodded.

“Wow. I both envy you and respect your self-restraint.”

“Excuse me,” Mari interrupted. “But what are you talking about?”

“Nothing much,” the red-haired girl said, now standing near Boze. “It’s just, you have a very distinctive scent, it’s very strong and full of… no word for it other than power I guess. Smells like sweet ocean flowers on a warm, sunny day.”

Everyone stared at her.

“What?”

Boze cleared her throat. “Emberdawn, they don’t know.”

“Oh. Well that changes things, doesn’t it?”

“It can change things later,” the girl named Mist chimed in. “We’ve got a full squadron coming our way. We have to leave, now.”

“Alright,” Zia said, taking charge immediately. We’ve gotta get everyone out of here fast and safe, so most of us will double up. Wes, you’ll take Joven and Lasercorn, use a small car, light and fast. Mist, you take Shayne and Damien, regular four-seater. Scruffy, you take the smallest and hop on a superbike… take Olivia and Keith. Emberdawn, you take another bike and get the transport to the drop-off as fast as you can. Boze gets Mari, use a coverbike, and that leaves Emberdusk and me with Courtney and Noah. Everyone get to the pickup point as fast as you can. To the normals, you don’t have to understand what’s happening, just follow us. Let’s roll, bitches.”

 

 

Mari followed Boze out to the parking lot. They had already separated from everyone else. “Boze, what the hell is going on-”

“Shush,” Boze said. She pulled out a disk from earlier and threw it on the ground. “Step back.”

The disk shook and expanded until it became a sleek motorcycle, resembling a thin, less glow-y Tron bike. Boze got on, checking the handles and wheel position. “Hop on.”

Mari cautiously slid on behind Boze. As soon as she was settled, something shot over her head and formed a top over the whole bike.

“Welcome, Wildwater,” a robotic voice said. The curved wall in front of Boze became transparent, allowing her to see outside. Several displays flashed across the image, computing information at a rapid pace.

“Hey, Lion,” Boze greeted the AI system. “It’s been a while. Can you show me the route I’m supposed to follow?”

A map appeared at the top of her display, her route outlined in blue.

“Thanks, Lion,” Boze said. She revved the engine. “Mari, I suggest you hold on to something, myself most likely being the best option.”

She revved the engine again, and they were off. Mari screamed at the sudden movement and desperately clutched at the back of Boze’s jacket. She laughed, and pushed the bike even faster. 

They zoomed through oddly quiet streets, following the trail on the display, which suddenly began to flash red.

“Shit,” Booze muttered. She pulled a hard left, breaking off from the route. Mari caught the glint of other bikes following them. They slalomed left and right, taking crazy turns in an effort to lose their pursuers.

After one such turn, a van appeared in the intersection directly in front of them. “Boze, look out!” Mari screamed.

Instead of turning or attempting to slow down, Boze barreled towards the van. At the last second before collision, the van’s door opened and they slide inside.

Boze deactivated the overhead shield and hopped off the bike, putting a hand out to help Mari off as well. She took it gratefully, but a bump in the road made her stumble, resulting in Boze being pressed against the car door with Mari crushed against her.

“This… Nope, nope, not doing this today,” Mari thought. She blushed slightly and backed up, awkwardly rubbing her neck. “THIS IS FINE!” her brain screamed. Her brain was an idiot. 

Boze had gone up front and come back in the time it took for Mari’s brain to begin forming coherent sentences again. 

“Emberdusk says they’re still tailing us,” she told Mari. “We’re gonna go back out and try to lead some of them off.”

“That sounds like a horrible and dangerous plan,” Noah said behind her. Mari whipped around, not having noticed that anyone else was there. Noah looked concerned, while Courtney was smirking at Mari. She blushed again. 

“It is,” Boze answered, oblivious. “I’m called Wildwater for a reason.”

“You’re also called Boze for a reason!” Zia (the other one in the van, Mari remembered) called from the front.

“Shut up! Anyways, Mari, we gotta roll.” 

So she got back on the bike, the shield closed around them, the vans door opened, and off they went.

 

 

They were back to following the blue route, it seemed. There were still bikes following them, but not nearly as many as before. Mari looked at the map again, and decided to bring up what she thought was a rather valid concern.

“Hey Boze, why exactly are we headed towards a cliff?”

No answer.

“Boze.”

They were close enough to the cliff that Mari could see it around Boze’s head. 

“BOZE!”

She reached up and pressed a few buttons on the ceiling. “I’m gonna need you to remain calm and trust me.”

“WE ARE HEADING TOWARDS A CLIFF HOW DO I REMAIN-”

The road ended. They were falling.

Mari squeezed her eyes shut, the sound of the bike changing ringing in her ears. She waited for impact.

It never came.

She opened her eyes to see the ocean far below them. 

It seemed the bike could also turn into a small jet. Which Boze was now flying. 

Boze looked at her display and saw a few vehicles still chasing them. “Mari, hold on.”

She proceeded to execute rolls, banks, climbs and dives in every direction to avoid the shots now coming towards them. Boze looked down, smiled, and pressed another button. “Mari, I meant what I said earlier. Holding my waist is probably your best chance of survival right now.”

The jet disappeared around them, turning back into a disk that Boze somehow had time to pocket before they began falling. Mari screamed.

Something broke their fall.

It was a dragon.

She screamed again. 

“Hush, you,” Boze said. “Hey, Fangfyre, thanks for letting us land. You can take care of them?”

Fangfyre (THE DRAGON, Mari’s mind screamed) growled. 

“Good. Take them to the pick-up point and circle back around to help with any injuries, please. Enjoy your first ride on a dragon!” Boze flipped off the dragon’s back turned into what looked like a grey wolf with wings, and flew away.

Mari blinked, looked around, and registered Shayne, Damien, Courtney, and Noah staring at her. Another dragon (ANOTHER, her mind screamed again) flew up carrying Joven, Lasercorn, Keith, and Olivia on its back.

They all blinked at each other.

“Mr. Dragon? Mr. Fangfyre Dragon Sir?” Noah said, his voice a bit squeaky. “I would like to suggest that if you decide you want a tasty human snack, to take Joven first.”

Joven, of course, protested immediately, detailing rather specifically why he would not make a good snack. The dragons snorted simultaneously. Joven shut his mouth.

“What are our lives,” Mari wondered aloud. No one had an answer. 

 

 

After a few minutes, they came upon a rather large airship floating in the clouds. The dragons flew straight towards it.

That was maybe the least crazy thing to happen all day.

A panel of the ship opened up to let them in. The dragons crouched down and curled their necks to let everyone off their back. When they were all safely on the floor, they flew out back the way they had come. Mari and the others stared after them. 

“Oy!”

They all turned around. It was the red-headed girl from earlier. She waved them over.

“I’m Emberdawn, the current pilot of this aircraft. You met me earlier, but hello. Unless you intend to be stomped on by Fangfyre, Talonfyre, or honestly Emberdusk and Zefyre when they come back, you’re probably gonna want to come with me.”

Her gaze settled on Mari, and the corners of her mouth turned down. “Where’s Boze?”

She didn’t know why, but this total stranger asking where her cr- good friend was rubbed her the wrong way. “She flipped off of a dragon and flew away,” she all but growled.

Emberdawn’s eyes widened almost imperceptibly, and she grinned like a cat that caught a canary but wanted to toy with it a bit longer. “My, we learn fast, don’t we?”

Suddenly, she was doused from head to toe with water. She spat some out her mouth and gave Mari a searching look. “Interesting.”

And then she was bowled over by Boze again, who wasted no time in pinned her arms by her head with one hand and holding her lower half down with her legs and other arm. “Payback, bitch,” she smirked.

Emberdawn rolled her eyes. “Was this water you too, then?”

Boze stiffened. “Some of it.”

“Some of it.”

“Yes.”

“Interesting.”

“Shut up.”

Boze rolled to her feet and helped the other girl stand up.

“I missed you,” Emberdawn said, throwing an arm over Boze’s shoulder. She leaned a bit closer to whisper in her ear. “And your friend over there seems to learn pretty fast, huh?”

Boze looked over at Mari, who was practically fuming with anger for no reason at all. “I’m gonna kill you.”

Emberdawn just laughed. “Nah, you love me too much.”

Mari stiffened.

Boze narrowed her eyes at her friend.

“I gotta say, silence is an interesting choice here, Miss Boze,” Emberdusk grinned, coming up beside them.

Boze turned her glare on him. “I’m going to murder each and everyone of you in your sleep.”

“Nah,” Zia waggled her eyebrows. “You love us too much.”

She ducked out of the way of a ball of water, which flew past her and hit Wes instead. He yelped from the shock and the cold. 

Boze shrugged. “Worth it anyways.”

“Hey!” Wes complained.

Mist snorted. “On another note, we’re coming up on the drop zone. We beat those bastards back, so we don’t have to worry about them finding it.”

Boze gave The Grin, her signature grin, the grin that strikes fear into the hearts of her friends on a daily basis. She turned to them now.

“So, guys, we are on a ship several thousand feet up. You wanna go down the safe way or the fun way?”

Joven gulped. “What are the choices?”

“You don’t get to know that. And you can’t change your answer once you choose.”

“SAFE WAY. I WANT THE SAFE WAY.”

Noah, Keith, Olivia, and Courtney also chose the safe way. Damien and Shayne took the fun way. Boze looked at Mari. “So, Mari. What’s it gonna be?”

Mari looked at Boze, at Wes, and then at the five people standing behind them. She locked gazes with Emberdawn, who seemed to be silently daring her.

“Fun way.”

Boze grinned. “Great. Those of you who chose the safe way, please follow Scruffy to collect your parachutes.”

...what.

Boze turned to Damien, Shayne, and Mari. “You three should follow me.”

Mari exchanged teffiried glances with the other two as Boze led them to a large panel on the outer wall of the ship. Zia, who she was now referring to as the Ember siblings, Mist, and Wes followed them. Scruffy came running up after a minute.

“I told them how to use the parachutes and let the catchers know that there might be an emergency in a few minutes,” he said, grinning.

“Great,” Boze said. She looked at the others. “You are currently experiencing reverse gravity. The floor you are standing on is actually above the ceiling. We are flying upside down. As soon as you step out of the ship, regular gravity will take told and you will fall. Something will catch you at the bottom. Now, who’s first?”

Wes raised his hand. “Can I go? Show them how it’s done?”

“Sure,” Boze said. She flipped a switch on the wall, and the panel disappeared. She flipped another, and a shield came up to protect those inside from the wind. She nodded to Wes. “Off you go.”

He charged towards the opening, shouting “COWABUNGA, FUCKERS!” as he jumped. He disappeared in the direction of the ceiling. Mist and Scruffy followed after him, and Emberdawn flipped out after them. 

Boze looked over at Damien, Shayne, and Mari. “So who’s next?”

Mari gulped and stepped forward. Boze grinned. “Great. I’m gonna come with you, if that’s alright.”

Mari nodded. She looked at the gap nervously.

“Best to get a bit of a running start, if you’re nervous.”

Mari nodded, steeled herself, and ran. The sensation of an opposing force of gravity taking control of her body within a split second was a strange feeling,to say the least. She found herself diving headfirst towards a forest with rather large trees. She flailed a bit, panicked.

“Mari, calm down! Tilt yourself backwards to get more air resistance.”

Mari tilted back until she was basically parallel with the Earth,and found her descent slowed. Boze pulled level with her, linking their hands together. Mari grinned at her, and she grinned back. 

“You want to dive again?” Boze shouted over the wind. 

“Won’t we hit the ground?”

Boze smiled at her. “No. I promise.”

That was all it took. 

“Let’s do it!”

They tilted downward and plummeted towards the ground. Mari laughed; why had she been afraid? This was the best thing ever! She felt as though she could stay here forever, riding the air currents. She felt like she could fly.

“Holy shit, Mari!”

She turned to look at Boze who was staring at her in awe. She frowned, suddenly not aware of wind whipping past her face. “What is it?”

Boze stared for another moment before pointing. “Your wings, Mari. You have wings.”

What.

Mari twisted around to see, and holy mother of fuck, she had wings, she was flying.

As soon as she had the thought, they stuttered and stopped pumping, and she started falling.

Boze dove after her, her own wings out and folded tightly to her body. She caught Mari around the waist, but it was too late to stop them from plunging into the forest pool.

 

 

Mari broke the surface of the water, straggling to the bank and hauling herself out. She caught her breath for a moment, before a thought got her up and running back to the water.

Boze can’t swim.

Shit.  
Shit.  
Shit.

She looked around trying to figure out where she was. She couldn’t see her, she must still be under there, shit-

“Mari.”

The voice came from the left, so that’s where Mari looked. And that’s where Boze was, calmly treading water. She looked at Mari, and lifted herself to stand on the surface of the water. From where she was, Mari could see the water pressing together around her feet to keep her up. 

But what really drew her eye were the glowing blue-green lines that had appeared on Boze’s exposed skin. 

Boze chuckled softly. “I guess now you know the real reason why I don’t spontaneously go swimming with you guys.

Mari started to laugh.

 

 

Somehow, they’ve all gathered at this one clearing in the middle of the woods. They’ve built a fire, and Mari is pretty sure she saw Zia, who they learned they should call Zefyre, light it by waving a finger at the pile of sticks. 

But right now she doesn’t really care, because she is warm and filled with hot cocoa and two of her best friends have superpowers and maybe she did too. 

“We actually had a whole dance number planned out,” Emberdusk says. “Gets the point across pretty well, but we don’t really have time. Maybe tomorrow.”

Slowly, everyone filters off to bed, because the guy that Mari labelled as “not the brightest” was indeed the brightest guy in the world, and his kind-of-maybe-sort-of girlfriend Zefyre was the smartest girl, and they knew how to make super cool wilderness shelters with WiFi and modern technology.

Boze and Emberdawn exchange a glance over the fire, and for once Mari can’t bring herself to care. She doesn’t want to admit why she did in the first place. 

Emberdawn smiles softly and pads away silently.

It’s just her and Boze by the fire now, though she’s willing to bet that Zefyre and Emberdusk were eavesdropping as birds or squirrels (she would win the bet). 

“So,” Boze says, “we should talk?”

“Why?” Mari asks. “I’m sleepy.”

Boze laughs softly. “We need to discuss some important things, specifically relating to the Talons thing we mentioned earlier.”

The conversation lulls.

Mari, because she’s an idiot and she’s sleep deprived, blurts out the first thing she thinks of.

“You’re really pretty.”

She freezes.

Shit.

Boze is looking at her and not saying anything, and Mari is about to say something else to dispel the tension when Boze leans over and presses a quick kiss to her lips.

She lets her eyes close with a small sign and leans against the other girl.

“I guess we can talk in the morning.”

 

 

Emberdawn padded away on little cat feet with a smile on her orange-tabby face. She touches her mind to Zefyre’s. 

"Tell my brother I owe him more chocolate."

**Author's Note:**

> I'm going on a five week trip without WiFi, so I'm doing what I do during real social interaction: say something and run away before seeing the reaction.
> 
> But anyways, I'm planning a full-length story with these characters and ideas, so feedback is good even if I won't see it until I'm back.
> 
> I have to wake up in less than two hours, so good-bye!


End file.
